NEXT UP

Bill Amis and Riley Luettgerodt had 14 points apiece for Hawaii (11-13, 7-5), which blew a seven-point lead down the stretch. The Rainbow Warriors led 62-55 with 3:20 remaining before Hector Hernandez, Bell and Miller hit consecutive 3-pointers for the Bulldogs. Miller's 3 with 1:22 left put Fresno State ahead 64-63.

But Fresno State wasn't done yet. With 12 seconds remaining, Dwight O'Neil drew a foul underneath the basket on Hawaii's Jared Dillinger and hit both free throws to put the Bulldogs back in front for good.

Bell sealed the victory, Fresno State's second in its last seven games, by going 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final seconds.

FULL STORY »

By Marek Warszawski
Special to the Star-Bulletin

FRESNO, Calif. » Each time University of Hawaii point guard Matt Gibson touched the ball during the second half of last night's game against Fresno State, he got booed.

After the Rainbow Warriors blew a seven-point lead down the stretch and lost 70-65, all but erasing them from the Western Athletic Conference title picture, Gibson felt like joining in.

Fresno State closed the first half on an 11-0 run, holding UH scoreless in the final 4:57, and also scored the game's final six points to snap a three-game losing streak.

"We just go through spurts where we don't score," Gibson said. "We get good looks, we get good shots and we miss them or we fumble the ball out of bounds. ... College basketball is a game of spurts, a game of runs. Any little thing could've made the outcome different."

In the end, UH was unable to contain Kevin Bell, Fresno State's lightning-quick point guard, or prevent him from dishing to open shooters. Bell finished with a game-high 27 points and nine assists, sealing the win with four straight free throws in the final 4 seconds.

Riley Luettgerodt and Bill Amis had 14 points apiece for UH, which dropped to 11-13 overall and 7-5 in the conference. The Rainbow Warriors fell two games behind in the loss column to Boise State (10-3) and New Mexico State (9-3) and one game behind Nevada (9-4) and Utah State (8-4).

Trailing 66-65, UH had a chance to go ahead, but Gibson missed an off-balance 3-pointer with 7 seconds left.

Fresno State (12-15, 5-8) got the ball out of bounds and Gibson fouled Bell with 4 seconds remaining. After Bell made both free throws, he stole the ball from Jared Dillinger on the other end before hitting two more free throws with 1.2 seconds left.

"(Bell) was the difference maker," Luettgerodt said. "I don't know how many scooping right-handed shots he made falling out of bounds. He got them in the sets they needed to get into late in the game, and that was the difference."

Bell and Gibson waged their own personal battle throughout the second half after the two exchanged shoves following a wild sequence that ended with Fresno State's Ned Golubovic getting a bloody noise.

From that point on, the announced Save Mart Center crowd of 10,097 booed Gibson each time he touched the ball.

It didn't bother him one bit.

"That's college basketball," Gibson said. "At home, our crowd did the same thing. It would be bad if I didn't (get booed). If I wasn't getting booed, then I would have something to worry about."

UH did an admirable job containing Fresno State's 3-point shooters until the Bulldogs got hot late in the second half.

Hector Hernandez, Bell and Eddie Miller hit consecutive 3-pointers as Fresno State erased a seven-point deficit in the final 3:08.

Miller's 3-pointer, which came after Golubovic rebounded a Bell airball, put the Bulldogs ahead 64-63 with 1:22 left. It was Miller's second straight 3 after missing his first five shots from behind the arc.

"He's a deep-range long-distance shooter, and we knew that," Gibson said of Miller. "You just have to get a hand in his face and hope he misses."

Despite shooting 58.3 percent in the first half, UH went scoreless in the final 4:59 and trailed 31-30 at halftime.